Disorientation
by esama
Summary: Young Elric brothers find a person with Automail and amnesia from in front of their house. Timetravel plotbunny thing. Manga verse. PROLOGUE OF POSSIBLE REWRITE ADDED. Spoilers from FMA Manga and FMA: Brotherhood
1. Disorientation

**Disorientation**

Light glared into his eyes even as he squeezed shut tighter than they were. For a strange moment he wondered why human beings had such thin eyelids and if there was a solution to such problem - problem being light shining into your eyes even when they were closed. Turning to his side he wondered if he should've gotten eye pillow or blind fold… then he realised that the area he was lying on was too rough to be either bed or floor. And that was not good since he didn't quite remember where he was or where he was supposed to be.

Struggling against the part of him which wanted to sleep some more, he shielded his eyes against the light and carefully opened his eyes. Getting blinded by the light - which was no doubt sunlight - wasn't a good way to start solving thing mystery. His location was important thing, especially when he did not know it.

The light was indeed sunlight. It took few moments for him to get his eyes adjusted to it, but even then he avoided looking towards the source of the light. Instead he looked to his side. Field of grass, sky, pure white clouds… it was peaceful sight, but told him very little of where he was. Shielding his eyes, rolled to his back and looked to his other side. Again a field of grass, blue sky and clouds.

'That's not all there is, it can't be,' he thought. It took him a moment to realise that even though he saw grass at his both sides, he wasn't lying on it. After a moment of consideration he tilted his head back and looked ahead of him in awkward upside-down manner. He saw a road trailing across the grassy fields. He was lying on that road.

'Okay, the road comes from there, so it should go…' he raised his head to look down himself - and ahead on the road. The road continued only a little ways, though. It ended about fifty meters from him to a house. "Huh," he murmured thoughtfully and since he had already raised his head he figured he could just as well sit up. The position was hurting his neck anyway.

The house was no mansion but it was big, with three stories. It was white with orange roof and beside it stood a tall, healthy tree. As he sat on the nameless road in front of nameless house, he wondered if he had ever seen it before. He had a strangest feeling that he was supposed to know the house. And the road. And the grassy plains.

He blinked slowly as lazy wind rugged onto something. Looking down he saw a lock of dirty golden blond hair lay on his chest. He also saw scarred skin. Metal where his right shoulder was supposed to be. Ragged black shirt which hung onto his torso. Black pants with cuts and scrapes on them. Boots.

"Me. This is me?" he murmured. His eyes were drawn to his right shoulder again, and then down to his right arm. It was entirely made of metal. "Huh," he repeated thoughtfully before looking up again. The house still stood ahead of him, still and silent…

Not so silent. With a bang the front door of the house slammed open and two boys rushed out. They screeched to halt at the sight of him, surprise written all over their faces as they stared at him. He stared back. They were probably around ten years of age and obviously brothers - though the shorter one had slightly duller coloured hair and hazel eyes whilst the minutely taller one had bright golden hair and dark golden eyes.

"What the…?" the boy with brighter hair muttered and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in front of our house?"

He blinked, thought about it, and didn't come to any conclusions. After moment of pondering on the lack of results of his ponderings, he merely shrugged. "I dunno," he answered. Who was he? No name or identity came to his mind as he wondered about himself. Why was he there? He didn't even know where he was. "Your guess is as good as mine. You wouldn't happen to know exactly where we are, would you?"

The boys blinked with surprise and looked at each other. He could tell that they were silently conversing in way only true brothers could, before they turned to look at him. "This is Rizenbul. Though the town is actually there," the just slightly shorter boy - who had duller coloured hair - pointed towards the direction where the road went. "And you're in front of our house."

"And whaddya mean you don't know? How can you not know who you are and what you are doing in front of our house?" the taller boy demanded suspiciously.

"I dunno," he repeated. "I just don't." He thought about it for a moment, and came into suspicion that it was not normal to not know one's identity. "I guess you know who you are?" he inquired.

"Of course," the golden haired boy huffed. "I'm Edward Elric and he's my brother Alphonse."

"Edward and Alphonse are your names?" he murmured. "Cool. How did you get them?"

"How did we -? Our parents gave them to us!" the slightly taller boy - Edward - grumbled and turned to look at his brother. "Al, can you believe it? There's a weird amnesiac person in front of our house."

"Don't be rude, brother," the shorter one - Alphonse - murmured without looking at the other boy. The boy was looking at him instead, with a thoughtful look on his face. "Big brother, he has Automail. Maybe Granny Pinako and Winry know him - maybe he's one of the people who came back from the war…"

Edward blinked at this, threw a thoughtful look at the nameless one, before nodding. "Let's take the weird amnesiac person to the old hag. She can handle him." With determined steps the bright haired boy walked to him. "Come one, we're taking you to the Automail shop. Maybe the old hag knows you."

The nameless one considered this and then nodded. Standing up - and wobbling slightly - he submitted himself to the lead of the two boys, who begun taking him away from the white three-story house.

"Do you remember anything, mister?" Alphonse asked as they walked down the rather thin road. "Anything at all?"

He seriously thought about it. Did he remember anything? "I remember what things are," he said after a moment. "I remember what roads are, grass, sunlight, houses, trees… colours…" he trailed away.

"Anything about yourself?" Edward asked rather cuttingly.

He thought about it too before shaking his head slowly. "No," he said slowly, looking down to the boys. They walked at his right with Alphonse in the between. "That's not normal, huh?"

"No, that's not normal. It's called amnesia, I think," the shorter boy said carefully, glancing at his brother who looked away. With a sigh Alphonse looked up to him. "A memory loss. I think that sometimes when people hit their head it can happen… Granny Pinako probably knows more."

The nameless person accepted these words. There was nothing else he could do, really.

x

Granny Pinako apparently lived in yellow two story building which was also a shop of sorts. Whilst the boys headed forward, calling for the Granny, the nameless person looked around. Against a some form of recognition nudged on his mind but wouldn't do more. Again he felt as if he was supposed to know the place… but for the life of him he couldn't figure out how or why.

"Old hag, we found a weird amnesiac creep with Automail just in front of our house!" Edward was calling. "Did you lose a patient or something?"

Annoyed looking old woman, who was even shorter than the boys, walked out of the house. She was holding a long pipe in her hand and to the nameless person it looked a little like she was about to hit Edward with the pipe. "What have I told you about calling me that, you pipsqueak?" she snapped, before looking up to the nameless one. He looked back. Edward grumbled.

"Um… he was sitting in front of our house," Alphonse said quickly before his brother could say anything. "He doesn't know who he is or how he ended up there."

"Well, that's a bit curious," the old woman admitted, sucking a breath through the pipe. "Come in. You look like you could use some cleaning up."

Not knowing what else to do, he obeyed. The boys followed them inside, Alphonse closing the door. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that Edward was looking him curiously - though the boy looked away the moment he noticed that he was watched.

"There's a bathroom there. You can co clean up while I get some clean clothing for you," the old woman pointed with the pipe towards the end of the room they had came into. "The bathroom is in the end of the corridor. There should be towels there. Take your time. I'll leave the clothing to the floor beside the door so you can take them once you're done with your bath."

"Oh… okay," he murmured and obeyed. He found the bathroom with ease and stepped in front of the mirror. His reflection stopped him for a moment, as sharp golden eyes stared at him from underneath of dirtied blonde hair. There was dirt on his cheek. 'My eyes look like Edward's eyes,' he thought to himself before shrugging and starting to strip.

During washing himself he found that not only did he have one but two Automail limbs - his left leg down from mid thigh was metal too - but he had a large variety of scars. Some of them looked old and somewhat smoothed by time, but others were new and ripe - and raw. Few of them actually bled a little as he washed the crusted blood away.

Soon he was done, squeezing most of the water from his long blonde hair before towelling himself fry. Like the old woman - Pinako? - had promised, there was pile of clothing waiting for him beside the bathroom door when he was. Underwear, white pants and white sleeveless shirt. He pulled them on and then wondered what to do with his dirty clothing. After a moment he ended up leaving them - and his boots - to the corner of the bathroom. He could probably pick them up later if it would be necessary.

"Hm…" the old woman frowned at him when he walked to them. There was a blonde girl there now too, standing between them and looking at him with open curiosity. "Now you look a bit better. And looks like you have Automail leg too, hmm… Well then. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Last thing?" he asked with confusion.

"How did you end up at Ed's and Al's house, for example," the old woman made a circle motion with her pipe. "Anything."

"Um… I just woke up there," he answered, raising his hand to rub his neck before shivering at the feel of cold metal. He made a mental thought to do it with his left hand the next time. "Everything before that is blank."

"That's not good," the old woman murmured. She was about to say something else, but was stopped by a low growling sound.

With confusion, the nameless person looked down. That sound had came from his stomach? His stomach could make noises?

"Sounds to me like you're hungry. How about I'll make something to eat and we'll think this through?" Pinako offered. Not knowing what else to do, he nodded.

x

Pinako glanced at the teenager who was sitting across the table. He was quietly eating the soup she had made while Winry, Ed and Al spoke about schoolwork amongst themselves. The nameless teenager was calm but somehow awkward. The long golden hair slipped over is shoulder and almost ended up in the soup - and when he brushed it behind his ear, he winced slightly at the feel of his Automail fingers gracing his skin. Almost as if he quite didn't know his body and how to handle it.

Her eyed skipped between the Elric brothers and the teenager. The resemblances were sticking - especially between the teenager and Ed. Same tiger eyes, same golden hair, even same mouth and same frown. They probably shared the same smile and smirk too, but the teen hadn't expressed anything but awkward confusion so far. It was obvious he didn't know anything about anything right now.

Pinako's eyes trailed down to the teenager's shoulder and to the Automail arm. It was very well done. Someone had clearly put an effort into making it. It was designed for more than just for mobility - that was not Automail of a farmer who had lost his hand in accident; it wasn't Automail of a person who just wants to use his hand in every day life. This Automail was far too detailed and far too expensive to be just that. This Automail aimed towards hundred percent.

To think that the teen not only had the ability to pay for Automail like that but the need for one like that… it was worrying. But not as much as the similarity between the teen and Ed. "I think I'd like to take a look at your Automail once we've eaten," she said to the teen, who looked up with mild surprise before nodding obediently. She nodded as well. Looking at the Automail might give her some idea of its maker and time to think about this.

Once they had eaten, they headed to room where she and Winry handled all the fittings and surgeries. Whilst the young man lay down onto the bed there, Pinako started to examine his Automail hand. It was really well made. The mobility of the shoulder and the wrists… they were excellent. So were the fingers and the careful design of the thumb… it was almost artistic. The hand was clearly made to work exactly in the way a real human hand would - down to the angles the fingers bend.

But that was only the surface. Inside the arm was just as well made as it was on the outside. The mechanic who had designed the hand had skills, Pinako had to give that. There were no extra wires and everything was sturdily attached. Almost as if with the expectation that the hand would go through some rough treatment. Some of the wirings resembled those of battle Automail - made to last. But all this was kept in balance, and the hand was amazingly light. Durability rarely went hand in hand such lightness.

The leg was just the same - and surprisingly, it even had individual toes. Rare Automail legs had individual toes.

"Soo…" the nameless teenager looked at her carefully. "How do they look?"

"They've gone through some rough times, but nothing too major," Pinako mused, holding her pipe in one hand. Some of the bolts and wires were just a bit loose, but other than that the mechanic limbs were in good condition. "I would like to tighten some bolts and screws here, if you don't mind, and there was wire or too a tad bit too loose…"

"Do as you see fit," the teenager shrugged, peering down to the inside of his right arm with mild curiosity. "I think you know more about these things than I do," he added.

"You don't remember how you got them?" Pinako asked whilst taking a screw driver and small wrench from the near table.

"Nope," the teen shook his head but didn't shrug again. "Do people lose limbs often?"

"Too often these days, I'd say," Pinako murmured. "With the civil war and all. It's over now, but they are still bringing more wounded back home."

"Civil war?" the teen asked with confusion.

"In Ishbal," Pinako said. She noticed that Winry, who had been curiously hovering behind her shoulder, turned and left at the mention of Ishbal. With a sigh the old woman looked up to the teen again and begun explaining about the war - and about Winry's parents, her son and daughter-in-law. The teen listened quietly, with a small frown on his face.

"You've never heard of any of this before?" Pinako asked.

"No, but…" the boy frowned a little. "The thought feels familiar. Somehow."

Pinako frowned. It couldn't be that the teen had been there at the time, and that was how he had lost his limbs, could it? No. The scars on the boy were older; these limbs had been on the teen for years, longer than the war had been going on. But perhaps the teen had still had something to do with the war, who knows. So many people had.

"It's a terrible thing, war," she murmured, turning back to the Automail. The boy nodded thoughtfully, but didn't say anything.

x

The nameless teen looked at the kids, feeling a bit awkward. They were doing their school work by the kitchen table. Edward and Winry were arguing a bit over some finer point of their school work while Alphonse just sighed heavily and wrote something down. Pinako wasn't there; she had gone to the town to ask if anyone had lost an amnesiac person - if anyone knew him.

'What am I supposed to do?' he mused to himself while pulling his feet to the chair where he was sitting, and loosely wrapping his arms around them. He looked down to the dog lying on the floor not too far from him. Its left front paw was Automail. 'I wonder if he remembers how he lost his paw…'

It was weird to know that he had gone through something as horrible as losing his hand and leg, and he couldn't remember. That and the scars too… it was strange and bit disconcerting. But there was really nothing he could do, was there?

"No, no, no," Edward growled at the table. "Not like that, Winry! How can you ever become a mechanic when you don't even know basic geometry?"

"Brother, don't be rude," Alphonse frowned at the slightly taller boy before looking at the girl again. "Maybe you should use a ruler, Winry."

"You don't use rulers," the girl frowned.

"Of course we don't use rulers," Edward rolled his eyes. "We're Alchemists. It would be a fine mess if we would need to pick some geometry set every time we need to draw an array! Besides, our master was adamant about teaching us to how to draw arrays and such perfectly without aid…" he shuddered a bit.

'Alchemists?' the nameless teenager looked up. "Alchemists?" he repeated out loud, making the kids look at him.

"You don't remember what Alchemists are?" Alphonse asked. Immediately the two brothers launched into explanation of Alchemy - explain the three-step process of analysis, decomposition and reconstruction. They explained that Alchemists are people who understand this and can use it to reform almost anything with things called Transmutation circles or arrays.

"Our master is a great Alchemist," Alphonse said almost wistfully. "She can do Transmutations without circle. Just -" he clapped his hand together, "- like this… but we can't do it."

"What are we gonna call you anyway?" Edward asked, leaning his elbow to the table. "Or are you going to be the Weird Amnesiac Creep forever?"

"Uh…" the teen blinked with confusion. "I don't know any names," he then said. "Except yours and… I don't think I can take those."

"How about we'll give him a name?" Winry asked excitedly. "Just a temporary one until he'll remember his own?"

"How about Creep?" Edward asked.

"Big brother! That's rude," Alphonse glanced at his brother before looking at the nameless teen again. "Hmm… How about Nicolas? I think I saw it once in one of the text books," he tapped the geometry book with his fingers. "It's a good sounding name, right?"

"Nicolas?" the teen asked to himself. It welt strange. It wasn't his name, he knew as much, but… it was _a_ name. "Nicolas…" he murmured thoughtfully. He didn't have much to compare to, but he supposed that there were worse names one could have.

"It's as good as any, I guess," Edward shrugged before going back to his school work. "Man, this is boring. You'd think that by being Alchemist you could get off from geometry…"

'My name is Nicolas,' the teen thought to himself while leaning his chin to his steel knee. The thought caused a small burst of warm satisfaction somewhere in his guts. 'My name is… Nicolas. Nicolas…'

x

Pinako sighed out a puff of smoke while watching how Nicolas chopped the firewood behind the house. No matter how she had asked, no one knew how Nicolas had appeared. He hadn't been on the train and no one in the town knew anything about him. Someone suggested that maybe he had came by foot from the hills, maybe from some near town. Few had even promised to ask around when they visited their family members, but for now… it seemed that Nicolas had no place to go.

So he had stayed with them. He was still a bit awkward and needed help understanding certain things, but the overall stuff he did know. Like chopping firewood, cleaning, washing clothing… stuff which he had ended up doing for his keep. He even helped her in the kitchen now. It wasn't like he was a gourmet cook, but he knew how to fry some eggs and bacon without burning them too badly.

Placing the pipe back to her lips, Pinako smiled a little. The kids were slowly taking a liking to the awkward teen, though. Ed tried to not show it, but he too was getting used to the teen. More than once Pinako had heard how the Elric brothers would explain something to the teen, when Nicolas didn't seem to understand something. One of the hardest things for the kids to teach was the meaning of parents.

But Nicolas seemed to pick up things very quickly. Even more quickly than the Elric brothers did - and since the boys were prodigies, that was saying something. Maybe it was because Nicolas wasn't actually learning but in a way remembering things, but even so. He had a quick mind. Especially when it came to Alchemy

'Maybe he had something to do with Alchemy,' she mused. 'He might've even been an Alchemist, who knows. Being around it seems to help him in any case, so I suppose it's a good thing. And the Elrics certainly like explaining things to him. So proud of being Alchemists…'

Chuckling she walked away from the window. Outside Nicolas finished chopping the wood and turned look towards the grassy fields, where he heard voices.

"Nicolas!" Alphonse yelled as he and his brother ran over the field. He raised his hand in greeting and waited until the boys reached him. They took a moment to catch their breath before they looked up with grins. "One of the town's people asked us to fix something with Alchemy. Would you like to come and see?"

Nicolas blinked with surprise before nodding with a smile. "If Granny Pinako lets me. We need to ask her."

Before he could say anything else, the boys bursted into the house yelling the old woman's name and asking if Nicolas could go with them. Nicolas shook his head and carried the last of the firewood to the shed while the boys tried to bend the mechanic to their will.

"Alright, fine. But look after him," he heard the old woman say as he walked back to the door. "And don't get him into any sort of trouble! And be back in time for dinner!" She called after as the boys ran out of the house. Nicolas just barely managed to put the axe back to where it belonged before the boys begun ushering him towards the town.

"What were you asked to repair?" he asked after they had left the Automail shop behind.

"A flood collapsed the mill - or half of it," Alphonse explained. "They can't fix it properly. So either we do it, or they need to rebuild it completely."

Nicolas nodded thoughtfully. "You think you can do it?"

"Of course!" Edward said pompously before smiling sheepishly. "Master had us fix things all the time. We're only getting adjusted to fixing big things like houses and such, but we can do it."

"It'll be interesting to see it, I'm sure," Nicolas smiled slightly and the boys puffed their chests.

The mill was at the edge of the town, near the river. It was really half collapsed, wobbling on the remains while the collapsed half of it lay in pile of rocks. As the men working at it welcomed the Elric brothers, Nicolas sized the mill with his eyes. Alchemy could really fix things like this?

Edward and Alphonse seemed to think so. Picking up branches, the boys begun to draw a circles around the mill. Then they drew some Alchemic markings into the circles. Watching it, Nicolas frowned slightly. He could feel something in his chest. Something in him yearned for something.

"Alright…" Edward and Alphonse looked at each other. Then, with smiles they kneeled by the circle and slapped their hands against it. Blue light sparked over the mill as the pile of rocks first vanished and then thrust up from the ground to complete the mil. Wave of power rippled over the mill as it set itself anew and then it was over. And the building was as food as new.

'Alchemy,' Nicolas thought to himself while the men congratulated the boys from amidst their astonishment. 'I don't know all that much of it… but for some reason I really… miss it.'

"What do you think?" Alphonse asked the men went to inspect the mill.

"It's amazing," Nicolas said honestly. "To think you two can do such incredible things… it's really amazing."

The boys grinned at each other proudly and for some reason, Nicolas felt oddly nostalgic and little jealous.

x

Edward and Alphonse explained to Nicolas what parents were. Edward and Alphonse didn't have parents, though. They father had never really been around and their mother had died because of a plague. The boys were now in Pinako's care, but even so they lived in their own house, alone and without a caretaker.

"They're strong kids, they can handle themselves," Pinako said to him afterwards. He couldn't really believe it. Especially not after he had seen the love and devotion in the boy's eyes when they had spoken of their deceased mother. He hadn't seen them mourn at all and for some reason it frightened him.

x

When Nicolas had been around for two weeks, he found himself more often walking around with Edward and Alphonse. The boys were often at their house working with Alchemy, but every now and then they would leave. For school, to shop for food, to fix something someone in the town had broken that couldn't be fixed otherwise… and sometimes just to walk.

"Master's training was hard," Alphonse once said. "But we came to know the nature. Now it feels a bit strange if we don't go out to see it once a while."

"All is the world," Edward mumbled while crouching on the ground and watching a trail of ants walking across the path they were walking on. "One is me."

Sometimes they would take some Alchemy books to read outside. Nicolas would join them, leafing through the Introduction to Alchemy. The book was simple and a bit boring according to Edward, but it ticked Nicolas' mind. 'It feels like I've read this book before,' he would think more than once as he looked down to some pattern of simple Transmutation array.

Once the boys brought him with them when they trained. "To train the mind you must first train the body, that's what our master said," Alphonse explained as he and Edward got ready to spar. Nicolas nodded thoughtfully and then watched as the two begun to fight.

The sight of Edward throwing a blow Alphonse blocked with his arm stirred something in the teen. How Alphonse then tried to kick his brother only to have Edward parry, how Edward crouched and tried to kick Alphonse's feet from under the younger brother… it stirred something.

"Would you like to try?" Alphonse asked as they stopped to take a breath. "We could teach you!"

Nicolas hesitated, but the strange yearning in his chest got bigger. With a hesitating nod he sat up and walked to the brothers. After catching their breath, they started to teach him basic punches and kicks. As he did the simple movements, they felt familiar and comforting somehow.

"Hey, you're picking this up quickly," Alphonse noted out after a while. "Maybe you know this too from before, but can't remember it?"

"Let's try something else!" Edward suddenly decided, and instead of showing another form, he threw a punch at Nicolas. Almost instinctively, the teen grabbed the approaching fist into his hand - and was then forced to block a kick. Grinning, Edward jumped back and attached again. Nicolas, who was more confused than threatened, parried and blocked. Soon Alphonse joined the fight and within minutes they had a small battle royal going on.

It was the first but not the last time they did it. It was fun and it taught Nicolas things about himself he hadn't known before. Like fighting, he hadn't known he could do it, but the more he sparred with the Elrics the more he realised that not only did he know fighting, but he was fairly good at it. Better than the boys anyway. It took great deal of team effort for them to beat the teen, and even then their chances weren't that good.

"Hm… it makes sense," Pinako mused to him once. "Your Automail is designed to work best in hand to hand combat, not that I think about it. Light but durable." Nicolas didn't know much about Automail, but he supposed that she might just as well be right.

x

It was around the end of the summer when Nicolas was led back to the white house where he had woken up in the first place. Edward and Alphonse were the ones leading him. The reason was the simple and utterly complicated fact they now knew. Nicolas had really had something to do with Alchemy.

It had begun earlier that day when Alphonse had been fixing some tools that had gotten broken or dull in the Automail shop. Nicolas had accidentally placed his hand on the array Alphonse had drawn. Not only had the array worked as it was supposed to, but it had worked very quickly and Nicolas hadn't even paid attention to it. He had just felt the pull of the array and reacted in way any Alchemist did. He had, without a thought, activated it.

"Take him to your house," Pinako had ordered afterwards. "Maybe being around enough Alchemy stuff will jostle his memories, and around here you two are the only ones who have anything that has anything to do with Alchemy."

And so Nicolas was being taken to the house of the Elrics. As they approached the house, he felt, once again, the strange sensation of knowing yet not knowing. The house was familiar, but he couldn't remember.

"Let's go to the Study. All the Alchemy stuff is in there," Alphonse said as Edward opened the door. Nicolas was soon led to a rather messy room where books and papers lay all over the floor. "Ah," the younger of the Elric brothers grinned sheepishly. "It's a bit messy I guess."

"Who cares if it's tidy or not, as long as you can do what you want to do, and find the things you're looking for," Edward waved his brother's embarrassment away. Then he looked up to Nicolas. "You can look at anything you want, but put everything back to where it was, alright?"

"Okay," Nicolas nodded, a bit overwhelmed. All he knew about Alchemy was what he had read from the Introduction to Alchemy and what he had heard from the brothers. Was he really supposed to understand all this?

"We'll study some too," Edward and Alphonse decided. Expertly they picked up books to read, leaving confused Nicolas to wonder where he should begin. In the end he ended up selecting a book randomly and starting to read it - but whether he would understand it or not was left to be seen.

Soon visiting the Elrics became a daily habit and while the boys would be researching, he would be leafing through books and aimlessly reading. But whilst getting his memory back did have an appeal to him, he soon became more curious about what the boys were doing. Edward and Alphonse had some sort of secret project going on. According to Winry it had been going on for a while now.

Something shifted in Nicolas's mind. He wanted to find out what Edward and Alphonse were doing.

"What is this?" Nicolas asked one day when he found a drawing left behind by Alphonse. It was some sort of brand, possibly Alchemy related. However, he hadn't seen it in any of the books before. And that, more than the strange yearning in his chest, interested him.

Edward explained what the brand was with mildly bored tone. Nicolas pondered about if for a long while. In the end the feeling in his chest made him to attach the brand to his person. It felt right for some reason.

x

Time went by. In the end Nicolas lived more at the Elrics house than he did at the Rockbells. According to Pinako, Edward and Alphonse needed someone to look after them - and frankly, they were neglecting the house in their frantic research. Nicolas ended up being the one who made the meals and cleaned the house - he even washed the laundry and chopped the firewood. But he had nothing against it, as he was living in the house and studying for free anyway.

Autumn came, trickling slowly on. It was October when Nicolas found out what Edward and Alphonse were planning, for what they had been researching. The boys hadn't planned that, though. They had done their best to keep it all a secret from him - they had even waited for a moment when he wasn't in the house, when he was at the Automail shop having his hand looked up after he had jostled it too roughly.

When he returned to the house, he found Edward and Alphonse by a large, complex Transmutation circle in the study. There was a large, flat container in the middle of the complex circle with mount of alloys in it. Without needing to be told, Nicolas knew what those alloys were.

_Thirty-five litres of water, twenty kilos of carbon, two litres of ammonia, one and half kilos of lime, eight-hundred grams of phosphorus, two and half-hundred grams of sodium chloride, hundred grams of sulphur, eighty grams of magnesium, one and half grams of iron, three grams of silicon…_

"No!" before he knew what he was doing, he had clapped his hands together. Edward and Alphonse turned to look at him with shock all over their features as he slammed his hands against the floor. Spark and violent ripple ran over the floor - and then the floor exploded into motion. The wood groaned as near metallic spikes thrust up from it, ruining the circle and violently throwing the container of alloys into air. When it fell, the alloys scattered all over the bookshelves and tables.

"Nicolas?" Alphonse gasped at him as he stared the mutilated floor with horror.

"What do you think you're doing?" Edward yelled at him, holding his fists up as if just about to attack him.

"What do you think_ you're_ doing?" he yelled back. "Don't you know what _that_ was? Don't you know how close you came to _ruining_ yourselves _completely_?" Without knowing exactly what he was doing, he clapped his hands together again and slapped them against the floor again. Edward and Alphonse cried with surprise as the floor moved before yelping with shock as it twisted up and imprisoned them in strange wooden tubes.

Taking a slow breath, Nicolas stood up. His mind was chaotic and his fingers tingled - even the Automail ones - as he stepped forward. As the two brothers struggled against their wooden prisons, he stared at the ruined floor. He didn't need to be told to know what just had had happened and he didn't need to be told where it could've led. He felt it down in his soul.

"Human Transmutation… is forbidden for a reason," he ground out.

"How would you know, you don't even remember your own name!" Edward growled at him, trying to fight against the wooden grip. "Let me go, you bastard! I'll kick your ass! We worked hard on that!"

"Yeah! We spend a long time perfecting the theory; it would've worked if you hadn't ruined it!" Alphonse yelled too.

"It won't. It never works," Nicolas looked at them with a frown. "I can't say that I remember much, or any, but this I know. I know it better than I know anything else. Human Transmutation will never work for anyone no matter what theories you make. It cannot and it will not work." He raised his right hand and pressed the metallic fingers into a fist. "No one can give up something that is equivalent to a deceased soul. Even if you would give your bodies, limbs, your hearts and lives, your mother will not come back. No one has the power to bring her back."

He stepped forward, walking over the mutilated circle. Edward yelled something at him as he clapped his hands together and Transmuted the mess of alloys. Leaving a shapeless blob of metal behind, he moved on and started to Transmute everything. The tables, the shelves, the books… Edward and Alphonse yelled him to stop but he didn't. Not until there was nothing but shapeless materials left. Not until everything of Alchemy had been erased.

Then he stopped before the shocked boys. "It's forbidden for a reason," he repeated, clapping his hands and releasing the boys from their containers. "Not because someone failed in it and it was then forbidden out of spite. Not because other people were just too stupid to do it. Many have tried it. No one - and I mean no one - had ever succeeded with it. Not the way you want."

"Our… research…" the boys fell to their knees, apparently too shocked to react properly.

"If you had done it, you would've been ruined," Nicolas continued. "You would've had to pay a price. Edward, what if you had lost Alphonse? What if there had been a rebound and Alphonse had died? What if you had died?" he turned to look at the boys who were looking up to him blankly. "Pinako told me that your mother was very proud of you for doing Alchemy. Would this make her proud?"

Without bothering to feel mercy, he grabbed hold of the boys' shirts and stared to drag the boys away from the house. Edward struggled against his hold weakly, but the loss of all their research had apparently sucked the strength out of him. Without stopping, Nicolas dragged the boys all the way to the Automail shop. There he bound the boys into chairs with Alchemy and told everything to Pinako.

"You… remember human Transmutation?" Pinako asked with shock. "You've done it yourself?"

As Edward and Alphonse looked up with surprised confusion, Nicolas sat down with a heavy sigh. "I may have. I feel it in my soul," he fisted his right hand. "I feel as if I did the same. That I was so sure too, that everything was supposed to be perfect… but it wasn't. It cannot be done. It doesn't abide by the laws - there is nothing you can sacrifice in the altar of Alchemy to gain a deceased soul. There is nothing equivalent you can exchange… But if you try even so, it will take everything it can and give _nothing_ back."

He looked at the muted boys with tortured expression. "No one and nothing cannot revive the dead. Death is an absolute. Everything that begins has to also end," he looked away with a grimace. "Your mother has been dead for some time. Don't you think she's in peace? Even if it wasn't possible and you wouldn't risk creating something so horrible that there is no words for it… what would she feel if you would drag back her here now?"

As he walked away from the kitchen, he couldn't pretend that he didn't hear Edward and Alphonse burst into tears. For some reason at that moment… he really wanted to burn down the three-story house with orange rooftop.

x

"My apologies," the old soldier holding the reigns of the dray said. "There are no cars in a country side village like this."

The Lieutenant Colonel glanced up. "No, it's alright. This ride is pretty interesting." He couldn't even remember when he had sat on a dray. These days when ever he went anywhere, it was on car or a train. But this, a simple, slow dray… it was somehow calming in comparison to faster technologies. Especially after all the things he had seen and done.

"So…" the old man glanced over his shoulder. "Why are you looking for the Elrics, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang?"

"I heard that the Elric Brothers are seeking to become Alchemist," Roy answered. He took a folded piece of paper and unfolded it. It was the file where the information of the brothers was. "I'm here to recruit them."

"Ah! As a national Alchemist! That's impressive," the old man nodded with slight awe in his voice. "But why would Lieutenant Colonel all the way from the eastern district come all the way here?"

"It's my job to look for and recruit talented Alchemists," the National Alchemist answered with a sigh. "The truth is that we are under employed due to the mess that has been going around." _Mess_. What a fine word to title a war with. But that was what it had been, truly. One big mess.

"A ranked officer in the military coming to meet them in person," the old man chuckled. "Boy, would the Elric kids be surprised."

Roy stopped at that. "Kids?" he repeated sharply. At the old man affirmative answer, he looked at the file again. "Rizenbul village, Edward Elric, thirty-one years old…"

"No, he's eleven," the old man corrected. "His brother is a year younger."

Roy frowned, holding the file up and looking through it closely. "What is the meaning of this, Lieutenant Hawkeye?" he asked from the female soldier, who was sitting across him in the back of the dray.

"According to logic, this is case of incorrect information," she answered simply. Roy sighed to himself and wondered what the idiots in the Investigation Division were doing.

The old soldier laughed. "It won't do you any harm just meeting them."

Soon they came to a white house with orange rooftop. No amount of knocking brought anyone to answer, so Roy carefully opened the door. "Not home huh?" he mused to himself. The house seemed quite silent, but it wouldn't hut to check. With amateur Alchemist you never really knew, who knew if the brothers had gotten into an accident and couldn't answer because of it?

While the old soldier went to check the back, Roy walked into the silent house. To be housing only two kids, the place was surprisingly well kept - though there was something strange about the house. If the information was correct and the boys were studying Alchemy, then… where were all the books, all the study materials?

Passing by a picture that showed two young boys fishing, Roy came into a strange room. He stared at the place with confusion. The floor was mangled by strange wooden spikes and the place was only furbished by shapeless blobs of wood and metal. "What the…" he murmured quietly and stepped forward. From amongst the wooden spikes, he could see some kind of mangled Transmutation circle. It was big, detailed and he had a feeling that it wasn't just your every day Alchemy.

"What happened here?" Hawkeye asked with a frown as she stepped into the room. "Alchemy accident?"

"Hmm…" Roy frowned worriedly. Something had happened. And he wanted to know what.

"Mister Lieutenant Colonel, they aren't in the back," the old soldier came in soon after. "They should be at Rockbell's home. Pinako Rockbell is their guardian."

"Good. Let's go," Roy nodded. He needed to find out what was going on.

The Rockbell house wasn't far, just ten minutes of dray-riding away. The house, which was apparently also an Automail shop, was yellow and it had a large balcony in the second floor. As the old soldier tried to placate the loudly barking three-legged dog, Roy went to knock the door.

Soon the door was opened by teenage boy. "Stop being so noisy, Den," he said at the dog. "Be nice to the guests." Then he looked at Roy. "Military?" he asked with surprise, pushing his long golden blond hair from his eyes with an Automail hand.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but might the Elric brothers be here?" Roy asked.

"Yeah, they're sulking in the back," the teen's golden eyes suddenly turned sharp. "What do you want with them?"

"We went to their house. I want to know what that mess was," Roy frowned at the youth. "Can I talk to them?"

"That mess was me stopping them from doing something utterly stupid. If you want to talk to the boys, you need to ask Pinako," the blonde turned away from the door, calling for someone.

"You made that mess?" Roy stopped. "You Transmuted those… blobs?" he looked at the young man with sharper eyes, taking in the elbow-length blonde hair, tiger eyes, sleeveless black shirt which revealed the Automail arm, black pants and boots. The boy stood like a soldier. "Who are you, kid?"

The blonde teen glanced at him. "My name is Nicolas Flamel… and did you just call me a kid?" there was a flash of fire in the golden eyes. "Are you saying that I'm _short_?"

x

Okay, this is a plotbunny that attacked me whilst I was reading some FMA fics, and couldn't find the kind I was looking for. I didn't write this very seriously, so the ending kinda sucks. And I probably won't continue further than this, since it was just a passing plotbunny


	2. Disorient: prologue of possible rewrite

Before reading this, know that this is full of **spoilers **from Full Metal Alchemist manga, and Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and does not follow the storyline of the original Full Metal Alchemist anime or the movie. Also, to avoid confusion, this is not continuing to the first chapter.

**Disorient**

"Here again?" the strange distorted voice greeted Edward and whiteness surrounded him and he found himself in the white space he had seen already too many times for comfort. Before him stood the massive doors, the gate way to Truth and things no human mind could handle, and behind him sat the mockery of a world, god, universe, whole and one. "You are glutton for punishment, aren't you?"

The blonde alchemist eyed the doors. He was tired, fatigued in ways he had never been able to imagine. Human transmutation, all the battles, even being swallowed by Gluttony… nothing compared to the sheer exhaustion he felt. Still he gathered enough energy to turn to look behind himself, into the shape of nothings that wore his hand and leg. It was grinning at him. It always was.

"Did the bastard's plan work?" Ed asked instead answering the inane questions. "If I go through now… will I… what will happen if I go through?"

The nothingness - or condensation of everything, whatever it was - grinned a little wider. "Oh it worked. In a way," it answered while standing up and stepping closer to the tired, blood stained alchemist. "And I got to hand it to him, his plan was to extent brilliant."

"But?" Ed asked, because he could hear the _but_ in the multileveled voice, the amusement that indicated that things weren't going as he thought they were.

"But he planned it for himself," the nothing and everything answered. "He did everything perfectly just before the end. His additions to the circle made a great bridge… and now that bridge waiting for someone to cross it," it motioned at the doors. "But he never planned for anyone but himself be the one to cross it. For him, that bridge would go to certain point and certain place familiar to him. For you… well." The nothingness leered. "And of course there is the matter of the bridge toll."

Had he had more energy and strength of will left, Ed might've bent worry, shock, maybe even fear. But he was too tired, had fought too long and had lost too much for it the words to impact him as badly as they once would've. "I don't care. I have nothing left I would mind losing," he said. "Just as long as the energy is used an depleted."

The nothing and everything laughed. "That will certainly happen, you don't need to worry," it said before pointing at Edward with Ed's own right hand. "You have nothing left you mind losing, you say? A leg or an arm… they won't be enough here."

The alchemist shook his head. "Take my life for all I care," he said. "My brother is dead, my friends are dead - hell, everyone I have ever known, met, walked past in a freaking street… they are all _dead_. At this point I don't _care_ about _anything_ anymore. I'm only here to make sure that the energy is depleted. After that… I don't care."

He was awarded for his words by another wide grin. "Now you're talking," the nothing and everything said. "Do you want to know what it will take for you to pass through that gate?" it asked nodding at the doors. "Because trust me, you are going to cross the bridge alive."

Ed blinked and for a moment he contemplated if he really cared at this point. After a moment he figured that it was better to know than remain ignorant, he nodded. "Tell me. What will I have to sacrifice this time?"

The nothing and everything smiled. "Everyone you have ever known," it answered and motioned towards the doors.

Confused but resigned, the alchemist turned to face the doors as they opened and the truth stared at him with it's enormous eye that saw and knew everything. Ed didn't bother struggling as the hand-like tendrils of shadows shot out and dragged him into the gate. Just before the darkness - and everything in it - consumed him, he could hear the nothing and everything laugh behind him.

"Till next time!"

And then Edward knew. He learned and realised and understood and _knew_ until his head felt like it was about to explode with all the things he knew, all the things he knew he would probably soon forget. Things he had never considered, things no human had ever considered, pounded their way into his head and into his mind until all he could do was scream for it to stop, to know nothing else.

The Truth spat him out and he was again surrounded by white. The gate was behind him and yet it was in front of him as well just little distance away. And between the two identical gates, stood a naked body of Alphonse Elric, thin and pitiful with hair too long and face too familiar.

"No more waiting then?" the body asked softly.

For a moment still too stunned after the Truth to answer, Ed stared at the body. He thought back to the promises and vows he had made, to the theories and plan and everything that had crumbled around him like house of cards on fire. And here was his best plan, his worse plan, ruined and staring at him. It should have been accusing, he mused. It should have been angry. But instead his brother's face was just a little sad, little amused, little relieved and nothing like it was supposed to be.

"Yeah," Ed finally managed to croak out. "Sorry, Alphonse. I… I'm sorry."

The body didn't answer in a while, just closed it's eyes and nodded before stepping closer to Edward and then walking pass him. "I will go back to wait for my soul," it said, obviously intending to go where Edward had came from - but the body wouldn't pass through like he had and was going to. It would stay in between. "It will join me soon, right?"

"Yeah… yeah, your soul will be there soon," Ed answered, pressing his eyes tightly shut against the tired, helpless tears. He was _not_ going to cry. It wouldn't help anything. "When you see him, tell him… tell him the plan worked and tell him I'm sorry."

"I will," the body of his brother answered. The creak of the doors was silent as they opened but Edward could feel it in his soul. He knew without looking that the Truth had taken the body, this time for forever. As the doors closed again, the alchemist lifted his chin. In comparison to his dirty blood stained face, the tear trails were almost clean.

"Everyone I have ever known, huh?" he then murmured in the white nothingness between two gates that lead to everything. "How can I lose something _twice_?"

He decided that it didn't matter. With a last glance into the whiteness and to the doors behind him, he walked to the door in front of him, knowing that once he stepped close enough it would open for him and take him… where ever the bridge would lead. He wasn't exactly sure where it had been supposed to lead originally. But judging by the words of the concentration of everything and nothing, it would have a different destination for him.

"It doesn't matter where it goes," Edward said, shaking his head. "As long as the energy is depleted. Beyond that…"

The doors opened. The eye of Truth was identical to the one Ed had gazed just moments - eons - ago. The alchemist faced it's horrible stare calmly and closed his eyes as he was drawn in once more.

Again information filled him and scorched him, but he didn't fight it. There was no reason to and to point. Even as he screamed for it to stop, for the rush never ending knowledge to stop, he didn't fight.

And just before the Truth revealed itself to him in most wondrous and horrible manner, just before for a fraction of a second he knew what was going to happen, knew the price he was about to pay and the difference it would make… he knew nothing at all.

x

Alrighty. So, I'm considering turning Disorientation into a multichapter story, which name will be simply Disorient (because that way, I won't need to delete the original version from FFnet). This would be it's prologue. I finally have actual plotline somewhat figured out. I won't be continuing the previous chapter, more like using it as material for the chapters of the new story, which is heavily based on it. I'm still figuring it out though, and I won't dare to actually start a new story before I know I can write at least few good chapters to it, so I'm just posting this here, right after the original version. Once I have actually story, I will let you know.

Thank you all for your support and to comments you've sent, you're the reason I'm going to try writing Disorient. Suggestions and comments and general feedback is still more than welcome and so forth ans so forth. And my apologies for possible grammar errors and such.

Also, Nicolas Flamel was not created by JKR. He is actual historical person, scrivener and rumoured alchemist, whom JKR used in her books. I just wanted to clear that up, Disorientation/Disorient is/are in no way a Harry Potter crossover.


	3. Announcement

**Announcement!**

I have now, finally, started a Disorientation rewrite, named simply **Disorient**. It only has the bones of the first version, and the prologue thingy here has very little to do with, but the general concept is similarish. Time travel, amnesia, little Ed and big Ed-who-gets-renamed. And so forth. Check it out if you're still, after all this time, interested.

Cheerios!


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